A strategy for shooting with a new talent.

I'm not much of a team player.  My friends would say that's an understatement by a long measure.  But I do love the collaboration with a great photo subject.  With a crew or a workshop or even with a tag along boyfriend you have this dynamic that subliminally pushes you to keep things ticking along.  Stay on schedule.  Stick to the plan.  But when you go out shooting with one person you can guage each other.  If you have any sort of rapport you can see when your talent's enthusiasm is wavering.  You can tell when it's time for  change of venue or a change of pace. But I think the important thing, when you take someone out to shoot in the streets, is to make sure you are both on the same pages as to what it is you both want to accomplish.  To have an "emotional theme" for the images.

In a typical portrait shoot I can't stand to have my subject's eyes off camera.  Looks weird to me.  But in the shoot we did on Sunday I was working with a narrative that went something like this.  Boy moves to new town for job.  Girlfriend decides to come for a visit and is having a hard time hunting him down.  She is lonely, a bit lost and looking around every corner in anticipation.  

We talked about the feel in our pre-shooting e-mails and again on the shooting day.  I call it a shooting day but I can't imagine a more relaxed and laid back couple of hours.  We had locations in mind (remember?  I walk this area about once a week...) and we just went with the flow.  It's nice to shoot for yourself,  or more correctly to shoot for each other.  No crew, no make up, no hair person.  No assistant holding stuff up that you really don't need but thought you wanted.  

What's the old Elvis Costello Lyric about the "lip stain on the coffee cup that you poured but didn't drink.  But at least you thought you wanted it that's more than I can say for me..."?   That's how I would feel if I were one of my assistants......  Sometimes vital.  Sometimes necessary.  Like a flu shot.

And, of course, in the last frame he walks through the door......

Go shoot downtown.  It's fun.

Here's one that's been post processed in Lightroom 3:

No cameras were hurt in the shooting of this series.  Canon 5dmk2 and 85mm 1.8 for everything.

Sunday afternoon walk around downtown. With a beautiful model in tow.

Jana standing in the alley next to the children's museum looking incredible.

If you've been reading the blog for a while you probably know my Sunday ritual of walking around downtown with a camera just to see what's new and what's worth shooting.  It's been a jam packed weekend so I didn't go solo, I met up with Jana and Chrystal at Little City Coffee House on Congress Ave. and we did a little walk around Second Street and Sixth Street.  This is from the alley next to the Children's Museum.  The last time they painted the walls green they did a few test strips on the wall no one looks at.  I've been shooting the strips for a while and thought they made a nice background.

I mentioned my plans to a few of my photo-friends and they all volunteered to come along and help.  Since when did street shooting, or art for that matter, become a team sport.  I'm sure they had in mind some sort of assisting role like holding a reflector (which I did not bring) or helping to set up lights (the I did not bring) or perhaps chipping in with witty chit chat and wise guy banter (which I did not need but brought buckets of anyway).

I really can't think of many things more disconcerting for a model than trying to maintain a fun rapport with one 50 year old photographer much less a gaggle of them.  If I wanted a bunch of people tagging along as I shot a model for our mutual portfolios I would announce a workshop and get these eager guys to ante up some cash.

I did a quick post processing of one image out of about 300 and I'm really happy with it.  I can hardly wait to get busy on the other images.  It's fun to find a model who:  A.  Shows up on time.  B. Is witty, charming and seems to be able to read your mind about how you'd like her to pose.  C.  Brings a friend of equal model potential, just for fun.

I worked with a modern camera and a short, fast telephoto zoom lens.  No lights, no modifiers.  We accomplished what we set out to do.  We had fun and we made photos that both of us liked.  That's the best you can hope for on any Sunday afternoon.

On the way home I bought a really great bottle of Riesling and four walnut brownies from Whole Foods.  Belinda made some Pad Thai and we kicked back.  Nice way to slide into Summer.  More Jana images to come during the week.  Stay tuned.

Thanks, Kirk